The results are in from our fur sales and prices increased throughout the season. We hope you did well as expected on your fur prices. I want to thank the volunteers that helped with our two fur auctions. The fur sales wouldn’t go very smooth without the help of our members. Thanks to Mr. Longmire for being the auctioneer for us. Thanks to the Lady Fur Harvesters for taking care of us also. It’s the “behind-the-scenes” folks that really help make this a great organization.

The fur sale results are as follows:

TFHA Crossville Fur Sale 2-6-2010

Listed by Species; Total; Total $; Low; High; Avg.

Green Raccoon — 156; $272.64; $0.10; $4.75; $1.74

Finished Raccoon — 137; $807.25; $1.50; $9.25; $5.89

Green Beaver — 11; $43.25; $3; $9.25; $3.93

Finished Beaver — 41; $516; 5.75; $22; $12.58

Coyote — 43; $270.50; $3; $13; $6.29

Bobcat — 22; $722; $15; $50; $32.81

Red Fox — 23; $271; $4; $18; $11.78

Gray Fox — 20; $259.00; $1; $19; $12.95

Otter — 5; $88; $1; $26; $17.60

Muskrat — 114; $419.45; $1; $7; $3.67

Mink — 3; $4.75; $1; $2.50; $1.58

Skunk — 16; $21.75; $0.25; $3; $1.35

Opossums — 59; $43.30; $0.10; $1.75; $0.73

Ginseng — 505./lb

Castor — 20./lb

Total — $3818.19

TFHA Bulls Gap Fur Sale 2-20-2010

Listed by Species; Total; Total $; Low; High; Avg.

Green Raccoon — 247; $754.50; $1; $6; $3.05

Finished Raccoon — 195; $1183; $1; $16.50; $6.06

Green Beaver — 51; $560.50; $4; $18; $10.99

Finished Beaver — 28; $301; $4; $22; $10.75

Coyote — 36; $162.50; $0.50; $14.25; $4.51

Bobcat — 29; $931.50; $11; $55; $32.12

Red Fox — 25; $298.50; $5; $16; $11.94

Gray Fox — 8; $93; $2; $18.25; $11.62

Otter — 33; $915.50; $15; $47.50; $27.74

Muskrat — 68; $417.25; $1; $8; $6.13

Mink — 12; $96; $2; $13.30; $1.58

Skunk — 2; $2.25; $1; $1.25; $1.12

Opossums — 64; $71.30; $0.25; $2.35; $1.11

Ginseng — 7.82lbs @ 487.14/lb

Castor — 14.24lbs @ 30.16/lb

Misc. — $122

Fur Total — $5,908.80

Other — $4,239.07

Total — $10,147.87

The “Rocky Top” Awards for the highest paid price for each furbearer for the combined fur sales goes to the following:

Jake Terry — Coyote

James Lord — Bobcat/Gray Fox

Wendell Reeves — Red Fox

John Nidiffer — Raccoon

Paul Antzack — Beaver/Otter

Frank Crum — Mink

Scott Rainbolt — Muskrat

Verland Pierce — Skunk

Adrain Wells — Opossum

The “Rocky Top” Certificates for highest paid price for each furbearer at each fur sale go to:

Crossville:

Paul Antzack — Raccoon/Beaver/Otter

Wendell Reeves — Coyote/Red Fox/Opossum

John Coakley — Mink

James Lord — Bobcat/Gray Fox

Dan Harris — Muskrat

Verland Pierce — Skunk

Bulls Gap:

Jake Terry — Coyote

James Lord — Bobcat

Ulysses Edwards — Gray Fox

John Young/Russell Yeary/Scott Rainbolt — Red Fox

John Nidiffer — Raccoon

Frank Crum — Mink

Paul Antzack — Beaver/Otter

Scott Rainbolt — Muskrat

Adrain Wells — Opossum

Chuck Minton — Skunk

Congratulations to everyone that received these awards. The hats and certificates will be sent out shortly. Once again, congrats on a job well done.

The SE NTA is weeks away and I hope everyone can come and enjoy the event. There has been a lot of work and effort put into this, and thanks goes out to Georgia for everything they have done. The dates are April 9-11 in Calhoun, Ga., at the fairgrounds.

Also, don’t forget our spring meet at Big Ridge St. Park the following weekend. There will be a meeting on Friday evening.

I, for one, am ready for winter to be over, and glad that spring is just around the corner. I love trapping season, but this winter was a rough one.

I’m sure the weather effected everyone. We will soon be seeing strutting gobblers in the fields and will have just about forgotten all the cold and snow.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to call me anytime at 731-614-2531 or e-mail at jlord2003@aol.com

— James Lord

VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT

With trapping season and the fur sales behind us, it is time For T.F.H.A. members to start thinking about our meetings and booths for the coming year. Anyone interested in having a booth at a church function or sportsman event please contact either myself , James Lord or Paul Antczak.

We have furs and other items available for the booths. Big Ridge will be our next meeting to be held, hope to see everyone there. We have talked about the possibility of moving the spring meet next year to the middle Tenn. area in an effort to make it easier for our members in middle and west Tenn. This is by no means a decision that has already been made we are asking for member input on this subject. The other possibility is to add a meeting in that area. Again these are just suggestions this is a decision for the membership. The fur sales went well considering the economy and the condition of the fur market. Thanks to everyone who helped out and to the buyers who came and puchased our fur. No T.F.H.A. event would possible without the help and support of the members. We are fortunate to have some of the most helpful members in the country. It makes me very proud to be a part of such a fine organization.

Remember the Hiwassee trapper training camp will be April 30-May 2. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. Our secretary will be sending out our spring calendar soon with the dates for the spring and summer events. I hope everyone has an opportunity to attend at least a couple of our spring and summer events. On a final note, one our directors Mr. Stan Myers’ daughter has just undergone cancer surgery. If I understand correctly, she has five children. This is a trying time for Stan’s entire family, so let’s remember to keep them in our prayers.

I hope to see everyone at the southeastern in Calhoun Ga.

Until next time, be safe.

— John Daniel

SECRETARY’S REPORT

Hello everyone, I hope trapping season has gone well for all of you. This is going to be a busy year for most of us, between jobs, gardening, trapping meetings and kids’ summer sports. The fur sales went really well. Nancy Rogers and Betty Stroub did a great job and Mr. Longmire did excellent auctioneering. Thanks for the Smiths help for preparing the food. Thanks to everyone that had a hand in making the fur sales go smoothly. Now with all the sales out of the way, we have the SE N.T.A Convention coming up along with our spring meeting at Big Ridge and our trapper training camp. Hope to see ya in the upcoming events.

— Lora Daniel

NTA DIRECTOR’S REPORT

At the time of this writing, the southeastern NTA convention in Calhoun Ga. which T.F.H.A. is co-hosting with the Ga. trappers association, is only five weeks away. I know everyone is looking forward to participating in this event. James Lord has been working hard to line up the demo’s as well as carrying out other task in preparation for this event. Everyone be sure to save a little time to watch the FFA competition. Remember, there will be trap setting competitions and a skillet toss so work on your speed and throwing skills.

In addition to workers for the convention, we need volunteers to man the T.F.H.A. booth. Contact either James Lord or John Daniel concerning this. The NTA leadership conference will also be held at the convention on Friday at the fair grounds. If you have anything you would like for me to bring up on behalf of the T.F.H.A., please let me know. You might recall in last month’s report I informed you that the anti’s have appealed the judges decision in the Maine lynx case. This is still an ongoing process, but, on an upnote in New Hampshire, a bill was introduced to the house that would ban the sale or possession of wild fur. NTA Vice President Karola Owen along with the New hampshire Trappers association gave testimony before the house, and after lengthy debate, the house voted 269-79 to kill bill HB1514. This is another win for the trappers of the country. I reported last month that the board of directors was voting on a new D.N.I.A. contract. The board voted to approve the The contract with Mr Dave Linkhart as the new D.N.I.A. rep. for the NTA. Mr Linkhart has background in media and has already represented the NTA well at various meetings. As the general organizer for the NTA, I have been working on a new program called NTA Cares.

This program is designed to bring the NTA and its members closer together. Any ideas you might have would be greatly appreciated so don’t be shy about bringing them forward. On a final note, I still have several tickets left to sell on the second F.B.U. gun so anyone interested in buying one please let me know. The first gun was one by a fellow that worked at Stowers Equipment in Chatt. This is a very nice gun that retails for around $700. Well, that’s about it for the time being. Until next time, keep your boots dry.